It's (Totally not) a Crush: a comedy told in four parts
by krystafaith
Summary: (Summery/prompt) Marinette has decided to get over her crush... For real! After yet another disastrous encounter with Adrian and a school presentation, Marinette decides she seriously needs to move on. Besides, she reasons, they'd make great friends if she could just stop stuttering whenever he looked at her…Right? But can she really let go of something she's held on to so long?
1. Act1

ACT 1

She likes him.

Since about forever, she's liked him; at least, since he appeared at the front of the class, a little late, a little shy when the teacher introduced him.

Adrian Agreste.

She knew that name; well, the Agreste part.

Any aspiring fashion designer would.

'Must be his son', she thought.

He was homeschooled, he modeled, he fenced, was an all out amazing basketball athlete, _and_ he played piano; he was an avid reader, and math and physics came easily to him.

What wasn't he good at?

If she hadn't already been crushing on him, she might have been jealous.

So after class that day, so long ago, she had tried to talk to him, get to know him, and that's where her trouble started.

Every time she looked at his face, met his gaze, her words stuck in her throat and she was rendered speechless.

She could never figure out why; she had crushed before, but she had never ended up stuttering.

Thus began her tortuous relationship with Adrian Agreste, the boy who sat in front of her, who she wanted with all her heart to talk to, but never could.

At first it had been all she could think about, but slowly it lost its importance to other more pressing _matters like having an alter ego_ , and then her momentary dumbness only happened around him when she was trying to talk about something, you know, that _might_ matter.

Like this impromptu skit they were supposed to be writing.

Ah yes, just when she needed it. Thank God Alya and Nino were also paired up with them, or the skit would have no hope, no not even with Ladybug's luck.

"...So Ladybug can swoop down, and rescue Chat, and it can end with a kiss!"

Never mind, this skit had no hope.

"How is that comedy?"

"I beg your pardon, but it's hilarious because it'll never happen."

Marinette starts to reply, thinking to herself 'It did and my mind still hasn't figured it out yet', but again her words stick to her throat, and come out sounding more like she's choking than stating her opinion.

Maybe she should write her comments instead…

They've moved on.

Good, the Ladybug sketch was a horrible idea; besides, a skit was normally funny, right?

{Another kiss would not be funny, not at all}

Of course, their newest topic isn't any better.

"You know that scene from the Princess Bride?"

Oh no, they're in a kissing mood, and if it means what Alya's winking at her usually means, than she is doomed to some horribly plotted romantic scene with Adrian; what happened to her luck.

Her hand moves in nervous pattern as her mind grapples for ideas, anything to distract Alya from matching her up to her hopeless crush, but before she comes up with anything to show her classmates, Miss Creative Writing is back, and wants their attention.

At first the whole class is afraid they're going to fail (because five minutes isn't enough to come up with anything good for a skit), but she laughs and tells them they have the weekend to get it ready for Monday, and hints that they'll see where it goes from there.

"Wow, we have to meet up later."

Nino leans back, looking at Alya.

"I still think something with Ladybug and Chat Noir."

Alya says adamantly.

"Wait, so who'd be Ladybug?"

Adrian joins them.

"Umm… hmm."

Alya pauses, looking from herself to Marinette.

"Marinette would make a really hot Ladybug."

Marinette squeaks.

"Umm, well, I really don't think….Um, well, you know, haha, that, I-mean, Ladybug is just ya know…. And I'm so clumsy! We don't look anything alike, after all, Haha, um…."

Her face was red; there was no pink, it was blood red.

 _As deep a crimson as the mask of her alter-ego._

"You're right; she kinda does look like Ladybug."

Nino grins at Alya.

They were ganging up on her now.

Adrian looks confused.

"You would make a good Ladybug, I think, Marinette."

He turns, and their eyes meet.

Oh poor, naïve Adrian, he would never know how his eyes affect her.

There was no hope for Marinette.

She would be a tomato in her next life.

And what had she done to deserve that?

"Ahhheheheheheumya…like reallyuhwon'tworkI'dtotallysuckatLadybug,likeIwassaying,hahahaee!"

She becomes a stuttering mess.

Alya decides to give her best friend a rest; she didn't want Marinette to die from too much exposure {to Adrian} after all.

"So let's meet up tomorrow to work on the script, 'kay? My place."

"Cool, I'll bring Mr. _Socially-Oblivious_ here, what time?"

The other three gradually made their way out, Adrian casting a concerned glance at Marinette every now and then.

Her head falls in her hands.

Marinette waits for the rest of the class to leave while she sits at her desk, replaying what just happened.

Really, why did she act like this? It wasn't her!

She was tired of feeling scared to death and yet excited at the same time, just because there was a cute boy who she idolized in front of her.

There was her problem!

If she could just stop crushing on him, maybe she could talk without stuttering!

Now, how do you stop crushing on someone who is both really, really nice and really, really gorgeous?

Yup, she's definitely to need to do some _deep_ thinking.

"Tikki, what am I supposed to do? I'm a stuttering mess every time he looks at me!"

"But you like it, right?"

"Well, yah…That's kind of what happens when you have a crush."

"So what's your problem?"

"I don't like having a crush on him!"

"So don't."

"Is it really that simple?"

"It's a simple as you make it… although you really have liked him for a long time, it probably won't go away in a day."

"….."

"I idolize him too much don't I?"

"You really do."

{Diary Entry}

 _How to get over your crush ( or crust) result as found on the internet reading from former fangirls..._

 _#1 try avoiding looking at them, thinking, etc_

 _Nope, that won't work; I'll have to see him every day at class, and I have to work on this skit thing with him in our group._

 _You see, I have finally decided that me and Adrian are over; done; finished._

 _Except I don't really know what that means; it feels like I've been crushing on him since forever, and I don't really know how to stop._

 _I'm going to call Alya, maybe she can help._

 _Later…._

 _She's coming over!?_

 _And… I can't really tell if she's proud of me for trying to move on, or if she's disappointed because she'll lose… a bet?_

 _People were betting on us?_

 _Ummmm, she said they even had a ship name… It's cute._

 _But, it won't happen; he doesn't like me that way, I'm sure of it, and I'm so over him._

 _Or I will be. After Alya's done with me._

 _I hope._

 _Is it even possible? To be over someone after liking them for so long?_

 _Signing out,_

 _Marinette_

Alya arrived armed with books, notes, and a checklist; she would take her counselor duties quite seriously.

She barges into her friend's room, where Marinette frantically hides her diary behind her pillow.

Marinette doesn't even get to say hello before Alya enacts "Operation Crush-less".

"First of all, you need to get rid of all your embarrassing posters."

"But-"

Marinette hadn't even climbed off her bed yet.

"No exceptions!"

Alya drags her best friend to the wall to start cleaning.

"Hmm, this is a nice one. Maybe you could donate these to charity, or something."

"What?!"

"You've got some pretty nice ones, and we both know you're not the only one with an obsessive crush on the boy."

"…so you want me to support that?"

"Well, you might make a dime."

About an hour later, her room was Adrian free: No more posters on the wall, no more magazine with their classmate's face, no more modeling pictures in her computer files, and finally gone was the flirty pink background on her computer—Alya had given her room a final run down, and changed it to Ladybug.

Marinette promised herself to change it, after her friend left.

( What, she wasn't that vain)

All the posters were safely stowed away in grocery bags hidden in her closet.

The two girls collapse from exhaustion.

Later that night after Alya leaves, and Marinette has changed her background theme to cats (because…) Ladybug could be seen, faintly, jumping off the bakery roof top.

She is intent, focused; she is looking for a certain 'cat' of her own.

She wants to talk.

Because, after all, what better way to get over one crush than to talk to someone with experience?

Somehow, somewhere, for whatever reason, her kitty was not to be found.

She went home, clouds in the sky and maybe a tear or two in her eye.

Maybe.

Never was there a nicer day to be ruined than the following Saturday morning.

 **Author's note:**

 **This story... It's dumb.**

 **There's no other way to describe it.**

 **I have laughed in writing this story way too many times to really try to take it seriously, so I called it a comedy.**

 **It's not really a comedy or maybe it is.**

 **All I can say is have fun, cause that's what I'm doing!**


	2. Act 2

Today was the day.

Her room was empty of baggage and she was ready to face him. With her best friend at her side. In a secluded place that was commonly called a bedroom. Oh my-

Nope.

She was going to be witty and talkative and normal…

Who was she kidding; she was really just praying with all her heart that she wouldn't fall flat on her face every time she looked in his general direction. She made a checklist of different ideas for the skit to distract her from her impending doom, before remembering that Alya had already written a rough draft with Nino the day before. Now she was probably stuck with whatever rom-con her friends had dreamed up.

 _Not_ seeing Chat the night before doesn't help: she'd wanted to talk to him, to laugh about it, because even though she knew him as a ridiculous cat she also knew him as one of her closest friends and one who she could trust with secrets, and dumb problems like boys.

(Well, some of them)

And then her kitty had gone and ditched her on patrol.

Well, maybe not ditched her; kitties where entities of their own and very independent.

Maybe he'd done it earlier, or later, on his own.

Of course.

She should expect nothing less of him.

Maybe she could talk to him tonight… After she survived Alya's house.

Rain started to fall as she left the warm walls of the bakery. She breathed out relief that Alya didn't live far as she felt the first raindrops.

Maybe it would have been better if she had, because as the rain fell hard, soaking Marinette's clothes, running down her skin, embracing her in its passionate downpour, it seemed to wash away her worries and fears, if only for a moment. Maybe if Alya'd lived a little farther away, a certain someone wouldn't have chanced seen her staring so wistfully into the streets as she listened to the pounding of raindrops on the rooftops around her.

But someone does see her.

"Hello, Princess!"

Her eyes flutter wide.

"Chat!"

He smiles at her; she glares at him.

He had no right to look that smug after ruining her moment.

"Going somewhere?"

"Actually, yes."

They walk, and he _miraculously_ produces an umbrella from behind his back.

"Where?"

"Shouldn't _I_ be asking _you_ what you're doing talking to a civilian when you probably have a city to save?"

"Ah, but there aren't any akumas out today, and you are not any ordinary civilian."

She stops short as they reach the end of a street.

"What do you mean by that?"

"Well, no ordinary civilian has practically defeated at least two Akumas with virtually _no_ superhero assistance."

"That was only-"

"Yes yes, half a dozen times, you don't need to brag. I'm impressed."

She had to be more careful; Chat could be suspicious.

Since when did that stupid cat talk to her as a civilian?

"Well I'm almost to my destination. Kitty better scram."

"You don't want take me with you?"

His kitty ears sagged and his mouth drooped in mock dejection.

"No, absolutely not."

"Well, see you around Princess."

"Boy, I hope not."

He smirks, and disappears into an alley, as street cats do.

Her head shakes as she watches him go. Silly cat.

In front of her was the hotel where Alya lived; well, she lived somewhere in it, anyways. It wasn't busy, but there were a few regulars who she recognized, sitting on benches with steaming plates of food in the classy hotel restaurant. She greets the ones she knows, and then slips through a door labeled 'Staff'. This door would lead to the kitchen, which was always a hub of activity. Marinette dances around the chefs and dishwashers, waitresses and managers until she reaches the stairway to the upstairs.

Even with the sounds of the kitchen crowding her ears, she can make out the distinctive sounds of her friends laughter.

Apparently, she's late.

It was that stupid cat's fault.

Although she doubts they'd take that as an excuse; she had penchant for being a little late. When she finds Alya's room, she sees two figures lounging together on the floor, exploring a mess of papers.

"Wow Adrien, that was fast."

"I'm not Adrien."

Nino looks up from the paper he'd been editing when she came in.

"Oh. Sorry Marinette."

Alya also looks up from next to him.

"Hey, sit down, girl!"

She pats the rug beside her eagerly.

She sits, and the anxious anticipation about being near Adrien, which Chat and the rain had made disappear, returns.

"So, where's Adrien then?"

"Oh, he volunteered to pick up some props for us is all. Shouldn't take too long."

"…Oh."

She looks at her hands; her time of reprieve would not last long.

"I've returned!"

It was Adrien.

There he stood in his angelic beauty, sopping wet and grinning like the dork he was.

Marinette really couldn't help the blood that rushed to her face when as she watched him remember himself and smile guiltily at his over dramatic entry. The other two were both laughing, but Marinette was pretty sure Alya was laughing at her reaction.

Oh, she'd show her.

"Hi Adrien."

She says it without a stutter, even managing some eye contact before looking back at her hands.

"Hi…Marinette."

He shuffles over to sit next to her.

She _does not_ squeal, but she wants to.

"Here are the props."

He says, leaning over Marinette, handing a grocery bag of things to Alya.

"Thanks."

She is smiling, a little too big Marinette thinks.

"Hey, I was happy to do it."

His eyes slide over Marinette, but they are somewhere else before she can catch him.

Strange.

"Alright!"

Says Alya, taking charge.

"Since everyone's finally here, let's figure out what we're going to present Miss Bustier on Monday."

She nods to Nino.

"Okay, so last night me and Alya here spent like… until one in the morning working on this, and then she made me go home, and—"

"If there is anything good in this mess of papers, you can all thank me!"

Nino pouts at her and she sticks her tongue out at him; such children.

While the two nerds that were Alya and Nino obliviously flirted with each other, Marinette and Adrien look at each other with a sigh. This project was doomed.

Reluctantly they each grab a stack of unevenly thrown script, and attempt to make sense out of it, since they were the only responsible members of this group.

' _And this kiss totally bested them all.'_

 _{Ladybug pulls Chat by the bell, we get some real action here!}_

"What!?"

Marinette's face does not pass go, and certainly does collect two hundred dollars; it goes straight to red.

 _Were they trying to kill her?_ Yes, yes they were.

Adrien looks up from his page, his face also a little pink.

"Um, are you okay?"

All she can do is hand it to him, and in two seconds his face replicates her own.

"Oh, look Nino. They're blushing!"

 _Now_ they notice.

"Huh, you're right Alya. Maybe they do have chemistry."

She had thought her face was as heated as it could get, but nope, now her face is fire personified. She doesn't dare look at Adrien; after all she is supposed to be getting over him and… she needs help. She shakes her head, trying to rid her face of all the blood that's flooded her complexion. Coughing to clear her throat and focus her brain, she reminds herself that _she is Ladybug_ and she can do this.

"How long do you expect this thing to be?"

"Oh, about fifteen minutes."

Oh. My. Nope.

She can do this.

"So I haven't read the whole script, but I can already tell the romance is high."

Understatement.

"Do you have a strong comedy light to it?"

"Um, we wrote it last night and we don't really remember much of it."

Aw, how cute, they were lying in sync.

"Oh, okay."

Now she turns to Adrien, who is watching everything unfold _very_ cautiously.

"Since we're both obviously signed up to be the leads, that means you'll be Chat; you think you can handle that?"

He would need to answer this one very carefully, because if he failed her here, she was really sure she wasn't going to be able to act _at all_ on Monday. Maybe he senses this, because he looks at her hesitantly, and then a devious glint appears in his eye.

"Paw-sitivly."

And he passed.

But that is a horrible pun _and he's smirking_.

So she glares.

"Wow! You guys are perfect!"

Alya is clapping her hands wildly because their impressions are _spot on_ , and this is best friend and said best friend's crush and it's perfect. She can't wait till Monday and she really can't wait to see these two rehearse the whole thing, so she sets them down with their respective scripts and they begin.

"Chat Noir; go distract that akuma while I summon my lucky charm."

Marinette _almost_ chokes.

"As you wish, M'lady."

He winks at her.

Since when did Adrien become a flirt?

Oh, right, since he is now apparently Chat Noir.

(Alya looks like she is going to die from happiness: this is simply a dream of hers come true)

Marinette knows she is dead; this script is _paw-sitivly_ awful.

Every word that departs from her mouth is cringe-worthy.

And Adrien is playing along with it _all the way._

It shocks her how good he is at replicating the nature of Chat, right down to the puns.

He must be a huge fan boy.

"Chat Noir, fetch me that useless stick over there. I need it for something important… um distracting… Akuma…"

He looks at her, and her breath catches.

 _It's only the script, it's only the script_ she chants over and over in her mind, and suddenly she is really grateful that moments like this don't _actually_ happen in a real attack.

Well, normally.

Most of the time.

"Please."

She remembers.

"As you wish, M'lady."

She was going to kill Alya for putting her through this.

She was also going to kill Chat for his stupid nickname for her.

And while she's at it, she might as well kill Adrien too, because his voice is _spot on_ every time he says it.

Thankfully she won't have time, because there's a scream outside that grabs everyone's attention.

It was an akuma, of course, and Marinette alternates between feelings of irritation and relief. Alya grabs Nino and is out the door before Marinette can make up an excuse to leave. She shouldn't be surprised, but _man_ that girls works fast. She sees Adrien who is looking equally dumbfounded until he sees her; then he smiles awkwardly and dashes after them.

O-kay, that leaves her alone to transform.

"How'd I do Tikki?"

"You did great, but-"

"I know, I know. Spots on!"

She really hopes no one sees her as she jumps out Alya's window, swinging toward the sounds of panic, while simultaneously scanning for that obnoxious cat.

He really has no excuse to be late, she saw him less than an hour ago.

(Ihatewritingakumaattaks!)As her feet make their way to the ground, she pauses to take in the situation: Paint is everywhere, and people are, of course, running in every direction, screaming. A blob of paint is flung in her direction and she jumps back.

"Art is art is art!"

Great; he has a lame catchphrase. Cat phrase. Whatever.

"I see you're having a lovely Saturday, M'lady."

There's the stupid cat.

"Have you seen the Akuma? The source of the massive paint balls?"

"Unfortunately no, although, maybe it is fortunate: akumas are never one fifth as beautiful as this awe-inspiring creature in front of me."

"Chat, behave. Have you gotten much closer?"

"Nope, I just got here."

"Alright; should we declare ourselves or-"

"Give me your miraculous!"

Chat smirks at her; she can feel it, as the paint-covered -smocked akuma with a beret hat menacingly holds a paintbrush over their heads.

"Well, that answers that. I get the _impressionism_ that you're trying to mug us. That is _not_ in the artistic code is it, M'lady?"

She stares at him [why did all her friends have to be complete morons?], and shakes her head mutely.

"Well, we'd best be going. Have a nice _genre_ day, and hope you little contrast!"

Grabbing her around the waist, Chat Noir runs, carrying her bridal style.

That stupid cat—

"You devil! My art is full of contrast, and I'm a still life abstractionist!"

"Oh, well I'm sure you have lots of pretty pictures!"

The Art-Akuma (Cause I'm lame like that) stops dead in his tracks and says in an absolutely satanic voice:

"Go step on a Lego."

"Me-ouch! NO!"

His fingers were digging into her sides as he ran, and it hurt.

For goodness sake, she was Ladybug!

She didn't need or want to be carried.

"Chat you dumb cat, put me down!"

"Not now, M'lady!"

He says lightly, dashing for cover as another paint bomb comes hurtling towards them.

Oh, he was enjoying this; she was _so_ going to kill him.

"Chat if you don't put me down in two seconds you won't be running from an akuma ready to steal your miraculous."

"Well, I don't necessarily want to be—"

"You'll be running for your dear life because Ladybug will be looking for blood."

Plop!

From her spot on the ground she glares.

" I didn't tell you to drop me!"

Feigning innocence [like she couldn't see his shoulders shaking or the half moons of his eyes] he questions:

"What was I supposed to do, twirl you around?"

Disgraceful; completely disgraceful.

Not even one bit remorseful.

"You're a disgrace to humanity, Chat."

His ears droop, but he couldn't hide his smile.

It broke through like sunshine through the black clouds above them.

Beautiful.

 _And completely inappropriate of her to notice._

The Paintball/ artist man, for lack of a better name, had stopped throwing paint at them, so it was safe to say she had no idea where he was now.

(Well, other than Paris. What would be really scary would be fighting an akuma outside of Paris. But the akumas seemed to like Paris fairly well.)

Chat was right behind her; she could feel his breath on her neck and it was unnerving.

"Do you have any idea where he is?"

She whispers as they edge around trash cans like the true professionals they are.

"Check behind you."

The voice was loud, and the two teenagers whip around, weapons out. But they don't see the Akuma.

Instead, they see Alya and Nino, who both looked thrilled to have startled the heroes.

Ladybug blinks. They shouldn't be here.

"You shouldn't be here."

Chat echoes her thoughts.

(Thank you, Chat)

"Well where should we be?"

There they went, talking in sync again.

"Try at home, somewhere safe."

She cuts in.

(Her friends _shouldn't_ be here)

"Aw, but that's no fun."

Chat, ever the responsible one (Ahem! Sarcasm), grips Nino's shoulder.

He's almost a head taller than him.

"Look, Nino,"

He says it with such familiarity.

"We can't fight a bad guy and rescue two teens at the same time; we need you guys to stay out of sight so we can catch this guy."

Nino looked up at his hero with stars in his eyes.

Ladybug rolls hers. If only he knew; this guy was such a dork.

"Only if you promise to give us interviews after you're done!"

Alya has priorities and safety is not one of them.

Manipulation, however, is one of her many skills.

"We can't promise that! Our miraculous will run out!"

"Your what?"

She doesn't have time for this.

"You know what? I'll promise you an interview, but not today."

"Then when?"

Uh, yah Ladybug, then when?

Chat was looking at her curiously.

"Uhhhhh….Tomorrow! Yeah! Same time! Just you though, nobody else, I really don't think a lot of people or friends would be a good-"

A paint blob came at them from out of nowhere and Chat launches himself at her, knocking her out of the way.

"I found you, cruel twisters of art. Give me your miraculous!"

"This is so cool!"

Alya squeals.

At the entrance to the alley (which was actually a dead -end alley, so they really had no way out), the Art Guy wields his paintbrush, swinging it around as if it was actually threatening (it wasn't; not at all).

But Ladybug finds she can't do anything because Chat is still on top of her.

"I'm going to break the paintbrush because that's the only brittle thing he has, and akumas like brittle things."

She tells Chat as she gauged the reaction of the Akuma, her head the only part of her body easily movable due to the rest of her being pinned by Chat.

He stares at her, nodding intently.

She could have easily flipped him off but she was kind of expecting him to get up on his own.

He didn't.

"Of course M'lady."

He was staring into her eyes, and Ladybug felt her breath catch in her throat for the second time that morning.

Maybe scenes like this did happen a lot.

"Chat, you have to go distract the Akuma."

Her breath is uneven and her voice came out as a whisper.

He looks reluctant to get off her, but he does.

She stands up and dusts herself off, shakes her head and falls into a fighting stance.

But no one else moves, they just stand, still and… staring.

At her.

What?

Did she detransform without knowing it or….

"I was so right about them being a couple."

Alya whispers, but Ladybug has acute hearing and she heard.

Oh, she really needed to work on her tough-single-girl vibe.

However, since her scene with Chat had left them with a bug-eyed, statuesque akuma, she was able to walk right up to him, take the paintbrush and break it.

The butterfly flies out, but it doesn't even try to get away.

What was with these people?

"Magical Cleansing Light!"

Yo-yo up; yo-yo down; voila!

Magic.

The paint disappeared and the akuma detransformed into… well, he honestly didn't look all that different.

"Here's your paintbrush, sir."

He thanks her, embarrassed as he puts together the situation, and hurries out of the alleyway.

She turns to her companions, who are _still_ staring at her.

"We-ell. It's been an exciting morning and all but I really have some work to do so… "

She whipped out her yo-yo and disappeared.

Well, she _hopes_ she disappeared. She had a total of five minutes to get somewhere reasonable to lose her transformation without anyone seeing her. There's an empty alley close to the bakery that was pretty much abandoned. She ducks behind a trash can.

Whew!

"Tikki, how you've kept this up for five thousand years I'll never know."

Her kwami only giggles, nuzzling her way into Marinette's purse.

She lagged on the way home, taking in Paris with its cloudy skies and preoccupied people.

Paris was beautiful.

Paris was home.

"Marinette, wait up! You'll never guess what happened!"

Marinette turns to her best friend with a half smile, broken from her day-dream.

"No, I don't think I will. What happened?"


	3. Act 3

Maybe Saturday at Alya's was supposed to be hell, but Monday morning was sure to be. As Marinette rounded the corner to the classroom she could feel it fall: bad luck, everywhere.

(She knew she shouldn't have spent as much time with that dumb cat)

They day seemed innocent enough: the sky was clear, the sun was shining and the birds were chirping merrily, but looks are deceiving. You can't judge a book by its cover, et cetera.

"Whoa!"

"Oh my, I'm so so so so sorry! I'msoclumsy….justlookatmerunningintoyoulikethis….I'msoakwardandwowyou'regorgeous,sorryforknockingyou,um,overhahaha…"

Yup, she knocked over Adrien (again; she had a history…). He didn't look like he minded at all, though, as she grabbed his arm and hauled him up, her cheeks covered in pink.

"Hey, it's okay!"

Of course he would say that; he's _Adrien_ and he's just that nice. Stupid crush.

Stupid cat; she didn't know what he'd done to her, but her week had already turned unlucky. The day before she had spent hours looking for Alya, since neither of them had mentioned location, and Ladybug never broke her promise. Eventually she had used her top secret detective skills, i.e. her best friend privileges, to spy out where Alya was and finally give the interview, where she was bombarded with questions about her relationship with Chat.

She was tired.

And here she was, the technical day three of her attempts to be over Adrien, blushing because she'd just knocked him over. And staring at his gorgeous face. And feeling really overwhelmed because he's just so nice…This was hopeless.

She smiles nervously up at the boy she had just, rather roughly, hauled to his feet.

"Thanks."

What was really weird was not the fact the she probably looked utterly dazed as she stared up at him, but the way he was staring back at her. She was really sure she was dying because those eyes…

"Um, yah, you too. You're, uh, really strong."

Where his cheeks _pink?_

If there were any way she could crush any harder she would swear she just did.

"Uh, thanks."

"Um, yeah."

The bell rang.

Neither of them moved.

"We uh…"

"Yah, we should probably get into class."

Like the true gentleman he was, Adrien steps in front of her and opens the door, flourishing it with a little bow. Marinette giggles a little; he was just too cute. His bashful smile didn't help.

Her cheeks are (of course) red by the time she reaches her desk.

How was she ever going to get over him if he kept acting like that?

Alya smirks at her as she sat down.

Oh, have pity on her poor heart, she didn't deserve this!

XoX

It was exactly three hours and fifty-two minutes later when entered the room; Marinette had been savoring her last hours. With a clap of her hands, their over-enthusiastic teacher called the class to attention, and asked who felt the most prepared to show off their skit. Most of the class mumbled amongst each other, _most_ of them unprepared to the max.

Alas, not Alya; she waited a few minutes lest someone else beg to be the first volunteer, and then jumped to her feet when she saw no one else wanted the dreadful position of first.

" , we're ready!"

She grabbed Nino, who grabbed Adrien, who glanced back at Marinette who slowly rose to her feet. Every footstep closer to the front of the classroom, every breath she took, it all brought her one second closer to her death.

"Wonderful!"

clapped her hands again.

"Let's see it!"

Shoving everyone there scripts, Alya began her part as the narrator.

"Once upon a time…"

With those words, her grave was sealed.

"Chat Noir,"

Her hands shook, she tried to make eye contact.

"Distract the akuma; I need to summon my lucky charm."

"As you wish, M'lady."

There it was, that subtle little twinkle that was _so_ Chat.

Her heart sank; it suited him so well.

"Chat Noir, hand me that useless stick…"

It was now hard to move her eyes; their eyes were locked, neither of them could look anywhere else.

"I need it for something…."

He was waiting, and then, oh! There went her breath; she couldn't breathe.

"Please."

It was a whisper, but the rest of the room was so silent you could hear a pin drop.

He too, seemed a little caught up in the moment because he answered her just a second too late.

"As you wish my Lady."

She couldn't help herself; here he was so near, so beautiful, and so absolutely kissable… Her body was moving on its own when her head moved just a smidgen closer and touched his lips with hers.

" And one day she realized that what he really was saying was "I love you"."

She backed away, her cheeks turning pink. This is nothing but a skit, she promised herself; you're just acting in character.

Wait, what?

This wasn't in character at all!

Of course Chat meant nothing when he called her "M'lady", and she certainly wouldn't kiss him… well, more than that one time, anyways. She felt absolutely no romantic feelings for Chat in or out of costume. Especially not when he snuck up on her like he had last Saturday; it was absolutely stupid and not at all romantic… at most it was cheesy.

She looked back at Adrien, whose eyes had closed when she had… kissed him. He looked a little flustered too, and no wonder; that hadn't been in the script. His lips moved, and she remembered that she had a line here too.

"But what if you never come back?"

That was ridiculous; she would never question if Chat would come back; he always managed, despite his bad luck. But this time, Adrien made the first move, and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her closer, so much closer…

" I object!"

Oh. Right. They weren't rehearsing anymore; they were actually performing, in front of their whole class, and that class included Chloe, who in all honesty was more of a villain than the akumas she fought on a regular basis.

Who was really, really possessive over Adrien.

And who really, _really_ disliked Marinette for challenging her.

Immediately she pulled away from Adrien, who seemed very reluctant to let her go, and whipped around to face Chloe.

"Can't you see we're acting here?"

Well, sort of.

Not.

"Chloe, sit down right now."

took over.

"Alya, Nino,"

She turned to the four of them grinning.

" I've been reading this script and it's absolutely delightful, if not a little long for a skit. Adrien and Marinette, your performance just now was spectacular! You portrayed both your characters and the emotions perfectly!"

Now she paused, considering what she was about to say.

"I'd like to talk to you four some more about this after the rest of your classes. Alright, who's next?"

Marinette breathed a sigh of slight relief; really, the beginning was nothing. If there was this much tension in the relatively innocent first moments, how would she have survived the kiss at the end?

She pointedly avoided Adrien's eyes for the rest of the class.

xOx

Despite having high hopes for avoiding Adrian the rest of the day, she had neglected to count in Alya being simply thrilled that Ms. Bustier liked their skit and so dragged her along with her to the teacher's classroom for their little meeting; of course Adrien was there too, along with Nino.

"Alya, Marinette, wonderful you could make it!"

The smile that stretched a crossed her face was unnaturally big, and since Ms. Bustier was a very smiley person, that was saying something.

"So, like I said earlier, I'm really excited about this little skit you wrote up, although little… might not be the word."

She looked pointedly to the two script writers.

"There are, as always, flaws in your work, but nothing unfixable; I appreciate the effort you all obviously put into this despite having so little time."

Now her lips pursed together and excitement danced in her eyes.

"I have a proposition for you; all four of you actually, but right now I'm talking you two, Nino and Alya. Would you two like to direct this as our school play for the spring festival finale? It will be revised a bit, of course, but-"

"Yes!"

There they go, talking at the same time.

"This is awesome!"

"I told you we'd struck gold!"

The two of them danced around in circles, giggling, jumping up and down… and Alya thought she and _Chat_ were a couple. Sheesh, how could two people be that oblivious?

Marinette moves a hand to cover her mouth as she smiled at the two idiots, but her elbow bumps something and she glances up….Oh. Adrien. She smiles awkwardly.

"Ahem!"

Ms Bustier was beckoning them to her desk.

"I'm sure you've both already guessed this,"

Guessed what?

"But I really can't ask anyone else to play the leads; you two were simply astounding in your performance for me this morning and I'm certain that no one else could portray Ladybug and Chat Noir as much accuracy as you did this morning! Maybe even the two superheroes themselves!"

A nervous giggled slipped through her lips as she unconsciously moved closer to Adrien and he unconsciously moved closer to her until they were just touching. Touching unconsciously, but her arm was hyper aware.

"So what do you say?"

No. A thousand times no. This was a bad idea.

But looking back at Alya, who had stopped dancing with Nino and was watching what was happening with her journalist's eye, she shut her mouth and thought before speaking. Alya had written this part for her; she seriously doubted that anyone could do justice to Ladybug as well as _Ladybug_ could; Adrien made a terrific Chat; all in all, this was a lot of fun.

So she looks at Ms Bustier.

"I'd love to."

Adrien must have been waiting for her answer, because he accepted right after her.

"Yah, of course; I'd be honored."

Great. Just great.

More kisses with Adrien; so much for being over him.

XoX

"Hey Marinette!"

Alya calls her as she leaves, jogging to catch up to her.

"So, I see you've been cast as Ladybug; you know what that means?"

Marinette sighs.

"Yeah."

"Huh. You don't seem very excited for someone who keeps getting to kiss their crush."

"It's just acting, Alya. That's all."

"Right… so that little improvised kiss thing we saw this morning was just acting? 'Cause you really fooled me. You and Adrien both."

"Well… mostly. Adrien is just really good at being Chat Noir."

"What, so you have crush on oh-so-charming Chat Noir, huh? Too bad he's already taken."

"NO! He's an annoying flirt with way too many cat puns; I do not have a crush on him."

"Whoa, girl, I was just teasing… wait, do actually have a crush on Chat-"

"No! And I'm done crushing on Adrien too, okay?"

"…Okay. But, just as a heads up, I think he might have a crush on you. The way he was looking at you, well… I'm pretty sure that wasn't acting. Just say'n"

" Yah, well…. I'm pretty sure you were just imagining things."

Alya gives her a look.

Sure.

XoX

"Tikki, what am I going to do!?"

Her kwami looks at her with sympathy.

"You'll figure it out as you go along; you always do."

"Yeah, but what if Alya's right? What if he does like me?"

"Well, what if? You don't know. He didn't tell you, did he?"

"No."

"Well then you don't have anything to go by. Really Marinette, just enjoy yourself; if he likes you back, he likes you back. Obviously you've liked him too long to stop."

"Ummm… About that. Uh, when you kind of start realizing that you, uh, like someone else, doesn't that mean you're over the other person?"

"Who?"

"Um… okay, don't go crazy on me, I'm not even really sure of it myself yet but… maybe… Chat?"

"Really?!"

Wow; that wasn't exactly what she expected.

"Oh, wow, this is awesome! Already too! I can't wait to tell Plagg-"

"Don't _tell_ anyone! Wait, who's Plagg?"

"Oh, just Chat Noir's kwami who I haven't seen in forever. He's a real cheeseball; you'll know what I mean when you meet him."

"Meet him? Why?"

"Well, if you like Chat Noir, then there's really no reason not to tell him since you already knows he likes you-"

"He does?!"

"And since you both have finally realized you like each other, you will inevitably want to reveal yourselves so you can go on dates and do all that cute couply stuff, you know-"

"What?!"

"And while you guys do your thing, Plagg and I'll do ours and it will be like the big happy family we always are! Oh Marinette, I'm so happy you aren't as clueless as the last few Ladybugs were when it came to acting on their feelings!"

"Right."

Tikki danced around the room excitedly, happiness shining out her eyes; Marinette felt nothing but confusion.

"Well then, what are we waiting for? Let's go!"

"Where?"

"To see Adrian of course! You know, suit up!"

"What?! Umm… Spots on!"

xOx

Two minutes later she found herself on the roof of the Agreste Mansion, absolutely clueless to why she was there.

"Why am I here?"

She whispers to herself.

Of course, Tikki couldn't tell her; she was transformed. Until then, she would have to bumble her way through this… ah, visit. She drops on top of Adrien's window ledge (well, she hoped it was Adrien's; it was the only window with a light on) and peers through the glass (yup, it was Adrien's).

"Wow!"

It was huge, filled with all the extravagances that only a rich teenager would think of: indoor basketball court, skater ramp, three computer monitors, walls full of bookshelves… it kept going on and on. She stares at it, in the perfect position to get caught; and she is.

"Ladybug? What are you doing?"

"Chat!"

She spins around, startled.

"Uh…ha…Is it time to patrol already?"

"I could be asking you the same thing."

"Ummm, well, it wasn't… I just… wanted to explore…"

"By looking in other people's windows?"

"Oh, that… I wanted to catch a classmate… but it doesn't look like he's home."

Chat gives her a funny look.

"You do this often? Visit random civilians?"

"No."

She answers honestly.

' _But I know someone who does.'_

"Huh. You got a thing for this Agreste boy or something?"

"NO! He's a friend is all… though I will admit; I'd never seen his room before. Isn't it huge?"

"Eh, it's not so great…You know him?"

Chat was asking a lot of questions; she looks at him suspiciously.

"What's it to you?"

Pulling himself together, Chat points his nose in the air and tells her.

"Well if you have to know, he happens to be one of my biggest fans, and I like to… visit every now and then. Did you know he's acting as me in his school's spring festival drama?"

Chat seemed to preen at that.

She sniffs.

"I don't see what's so great about that. You know that girl Marinette I had help you out a few times—"

She was going to get herself in trouble.

"She's acting in it too, as Ladybug,"

Despite her better judgment

"And she's doing pretty good! Trust me, she'll give that Adrien of yours a run for his money!"

Well… no. She'd really just try to forget how many times she'd be kissing him under the guise of acting.

Strangely, when she said that, Chat's face seemed to turn a little pink, but night was quickly descending, so it was hard to tell.

'Well, uh… I'm sure she will…"

He was rubbing the back of his neck, and he really looked awkward.

"But, uh, do you know Adrien?"

"Yeah, like I said a classmate…"

Think of an excuse, insert here.

"I was going to ask him some questions about Marinette… yeah…"

"Really?"

"What, I'm friends with her, okay? It's awkward having to kiss a guy multiple times if you aren't sure of… where you stand with him. So yeah, doing a friendly interrogation is all."

Huh, that was actually kind of close to the truth.

"Friendly? Couldn't she just talk to him?"

She glared at her kitty.

"No! That would be super awkward and she really doesn't need more of that."

"Well she really shouldn't go around initiating kisses if she didn't want things to be awkward."

He mumbles.

"What?! She was acting!"

"Well maybe _she_ was, but was _he_?"

"That's what I was here to find _out_!"

Staring into each other's' gaze, arguing about something that they, as superheroes, were not supposed to care about, dropping their gaze, it hit her that this was perhaps the longest conversation they'd ever had about their civilian lives; it was… uncomfortable.

"Oh."

"Yeah. And… she might not have been acting. She's had a crush on him for forever."

Why was she telling him this?

"Really?"

His ears perked up.

"Uh-huh. But she's also a little afraid she likes someone else too, who she's been friends with for forever, and she doesn't really think Adrien likes her back anyways, so she kind of wants to give the other guy a chance."

And now here she is, telling the other guy, and he'll probably never have a clue.

Did Chat's eyes widen just a bit, or was she imagining things?

"Did she tell you that?"

Well, in a roundabout way.

"Yes."

"Could you… maybe tell her…Well, Adrien was definitely not just acting on today… and he's in sort of the same predicament as her."

What?

"You're kidding?"

She looks at him in disbelief as he pointedly looks away.

"Well…no, I'm not. He's uh, he's really confused."

Oh, poor Adrien; she wishes she could help him.

But Chat hastens to say something and she remembers… It's either Chat or Adrien.

And honestly, sitting here, talking to her crush about her crush, she feels all the more conflicted.

Because Chat is too sweet.

Because she already knew Chat liked her, and that had made her decision a little easier, but now finding out Adrien might like her too…

"But, you know, he knows this other girl he likes doesn't really like him back that way, so… If you gave Marinette a hint or something…"

He seems almost sad as he said it.

"He wouldn't mind."

He needed some cheering up, but she wasn't sure that she, as Ladybug, could do it; she didn't really know how.

But maybe… maybe if she couldn't talk with Adrien as her superhero persona… maybe talking to Chat as her civilian self could help her sort her feelings out.

"Why don't you go tell her?"

"What, me? I uh—"

"Sure! What with you sneaking up on her all the time, I'm sure she wouldn't mind hearing from you."

"Well… maybe. You knew about that?"

"Ah-haha! Well, I'd best be getting home. I've got a curfew. Bye bye, kitty!"

"But what about patrol?"

"Well, you need some kind of excuse, don't you?"

She smiled at her kitty's blush, but wondered what she was doing. Well, she knew; she wanted to see if Chat would do it: tell Marinette about Adrien, and how he would do it if he did. She could never tell if Chat actually liked Marinette, or if he just liked her, as a friend.

She really hoped she wasn't leading him on; she didn't want to mess with Chat's feelings.

She was messing with her own enough.


	4. Act 4

Because everyone thinks Adrien will find out first, but come on…

Le Finale

"Why me? Why did have to be me?"

It was two weeks later, just after the end of classes, and Marinette was reading through her 'revised' script for the fourteenth hundred time before rehearsal.

'Revised' apparently meant 'add in twenty more kisses, and reduce both actors into spluttering idiots'.

"Because, just as I've told you a million times, you make a hot Ladybug, Marinette."

Alya was grinning in her 'Director's Chair'.

"Now, start again."

With a reluctant sigh, Marinette begins.

"I shall never love another-"

"What's that? Another piece of pizza?"

"Alya!"

"Well, you don't really sound like you mean it. You sound like, 'huh, another piece of pizza would be nice, I wish I had some'. Hey, pizza would be nice. Nino?"

"On it, Boss-Woman!"

"Thanks. Now this time, Marinette look longingly out into the audience and say-"

"Hey guys, what'd I miss?"

Adrien had been gone most of the day for one early morning photoshoot.

(He seemed to have a lot of those)

Marinette didn't really know anymore, though, because she only knew what he told her. Her stalking days were. (Well, that's what she says)

"Nothing but Marinette completely botching up my script!"

"Alya! "

Adrien grins at her.

"Well I guess I'll just have to save the day then, huh?"

Marinette rolls her eyes.

"This is a monologue. You can't do anything. You're dead."

He leans over her shoulder to read her script.

"Oh… sorry about that."

"You couldn't help it."

"Stop being so cute!"

They both frown at Alya.

"We're not."

(Except they really are, and now they're blushing)

"Whatever. I give up. When you go home, Marinette, practice. Or you're dead."

"I am not that bad-"

"Yes, yes you are. You're voice is pathetic."

Marinette shakes her head no, Alya shakes her head yes.

Adrien giggles.

"Whatever. You and Adrien, center stage!"

"What are we doing?"

They call from center stage.

"Page six, take it from the top."

Marinette glances through the script and nods in recognition.

"I know who you are."

She looks at Adrien with a hint of a smile on her face.

"Oh really?"

His eyebrows lift, curious.

"You're the dread pirate Black Cat."

He smirks, and it's the same: arrogant, cocky, but… goofy too.

"You won't get away with this. The prince will come looking for me—"

She wants to laugh, because she knows.

"I'm sure he will."

Adrien's eyes glimmer.

"Do you doubt my words?"

She let indignation seep into her tone.

"Not a single one."

Such sincerity. So Chat.

"Do you love… this prince?"

He actually looks serious, and Marinette remembers how much better an actor he is compared to her.

"Of course I do. Why wouldn't I?"

Adrien hesitates.

"Can umm… Can I take a break?"

He looks nervous and a little tired.

"Yah, sure."

She pats his shoulder affectionately; she can get away with that. After all, they'd been kissing for almost two weeks now, and she can still comfortably call them friends without stretching it. Friends can pat shoulders affectionately.

They walk to the back, were Alya and Nino have ditched their directors seats to gorge themselves on pizza. Adrien sinks into one of the empty chairs.

"Do you want anything?"

She asks him

"No, I'm fine."

She sits next to him.

His eyes close. His hair falls in his face, and unconsciously, her hand moves to push it back. His head leans into her hand, and he sighs. While playing with hair might be considered intimate, Marinette thinks to herself, they'd certainly done some worse stuff, so she lets her hand continue to massage his head. Her fingers sink deeper, and Adrien purrs.

She smiles.

Because yes, she figured it out.

But he hasn't.

XoX

It started to unravel two weeks ago, when Chat caught her snooping around his house.

Well, she hadn't known then, but she had been curious as to why Chat had been around there.

That was when she found out that her unrequited feelings just might not be so unrequited.

But by then she had another problem: she liked two people.

So, she devised a bit of a test: if one of them actually did like her, he had to like both of her.

Operation Not-a-Crush -part 1– Engage.

xOx

Chat didn't show up.

At least, not on Monday night.

Marinette felt a wee bit disappointed about that, but she decided it was alright; if Chat really did like Marinette, then he would have to take some time to think about this, right?

So she waited.

She went to school.

She rehearsed.

And then Thursday night, as she sat on her balcony staring at the sky, she heard footsteps.

"Chat."

She grins at him in the darkness as he sulks, disappointed she caught him.

(Of course she did, she's Ladybug, but shhhhhhhh!)

"Princess."

"What brings you here alley cat?"

"Your presence isn't enough?"

"Why of course it is; but normally you pick the daylight hours."

"Cats are nocturnal."

She snorts.

"Of course you are."

He crawls over next to her.

"What are you doing?"

"Sky gazing."

"I guess you can't really see the stars, what with all the clouds."

"Yeah. It's still pretty."

"Like you."

"What?"

This was pretty forward of him.

Maybe she hadn't needed to worry; he obviously did like Marinette.

"Oh, nothing."

Aww.

He was actually acting shy.

"Did you just say I was pretty?"

He frowns at her.

"Well, I'm pretty sure everyone would agree that you are, um… attractive."

"Aww, kitty you're so sweet! You're pretty cute too."

This time she had enough light to see his cheeks turn red.

She laughs.

"Say, who's the 'everyone' , huh? Been talking about me?"

"Just everyone at school."

He mumbles, and her eyebrows crease.

What if he knew her from school and he knew she liked Adrien?

Maybe that's why he was acting so shy?

But he didn't normally…

Hmmm.

"Do you go to my school?"

"Uh…maybe?"

"Do I know you, like, are we friends?"

He smiles a little.

"I'd like to think so."

"Do we talk a lot? Not like this, but you know…"

"Well, recently yeah."

Who, who?

"I actually came to tell you something."

"Oh?"

The lines in her forehead furrow deeper; who… wait.

Oh. Dear. Not now.

"Well… Ladybug said something… You two know each other?"

He shuffles nervously.

Hahaha.

"Pretty well."

He twitches, and then his eyes light up.

"Say, you have a crush on anyone?"

Inconspicuous, you say?

"Uh… why?"

Her fingers brush the stray hairs out of her face.

"Oh, come on-"

He's grinning

(Why is he grinning? He has no reason to be grinning… or does he?)

"Let me guess: He's tall-"

Unless…

Oh no.

"-And blond-"

"With the most gorgeous green eyes you'll ever see, yeah, yeah, stop bragging about yourself."

She interrupts, because she already knows he knows. After all, she told him.

"What—But I—"

"Shut it cat. I need to go to bed."

Her mouth spreads into a full smile.

She knows what she needed to know.

"Goodnight."

Standing on tip-toes, her lips press into the soft skin of his cheek, brushing the smooth fabric of his mask. Then she drops into her room and locks the skylight, eyes dancing with a devious gleam.

"Goodnight?"

Chat stood, rooted on the same tile, for a full 60 seconds before leaving.

XoX

Part -2 would be a little more work, of course.

By now she had already a big hunch that Chat and Adrien were, well, kind of the same.

She had laid in bed all night thinking about it, and had determined only one thing: She'd have to ask Adrien.

But not as Marinette; oh no, she'd do it as Ladybug.

The only problem? Catching Adrien alone when he wasn't Chat.

XoX

"Asssss—youuuuuuu-wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiish!"

Adrien grins at her from the other end of the auditorium.

Marinette's hands raises to her face.

"What have I done?"

She cries melodramatically.

"And cut!"

Nino calls out.

"What did I do wrong?"

"Everything!"

Marinette shakes her head at Nino.

"Why do people keep saying that? I'm not that bad!"

"Are you the director here?"

"If I was-"

"No! So stop arguing with the authorities!"

Adrian made his way over to Marinette and slung his arm over her shoulder (only a little hesitantly; after all, they were friends, right? Friends could do casual contact like arms on shoulders; besides, they'd done worse things…).

"I don't know what their problem is."

He whispers, half smiling as Nino confers with Alya over what could be done about Marinette.

"I think you're doing great."

"Thanks."

Marinette smiles up at him, and snakes her arm around his waist (casual contact; friends).

"Say, are you doing anything this weekend?"

He stiffens when she asks.

"Uh, it's, like, totally okay if you are, I just… uh, wanted to rehearse… well, without them, cause… you know, they always interrupt, and that's not a bad thing, just, well-"

"Actually,"

He interrupts, his posture has relaxed.

"My dad has a couple shoots I've got to do. He'd be pretty mad if I tried to ditch them; they're really important to him."

"Oh."

She hopes her voice portrays the sympathy she feels for him, and she squeezes him lightly.

"Okay. That's fine. Don't worry about it."

Unwinding her arms from around his waist, she tugs his arm.

"Come on! We'd better see what the authorities want from us!"

XoX

Adrien's shoots would end at six, the website said, on Saturday.

This would be so easy.

xOx

Six thirty, Saturday evening, Ladybug crouches behind the roof decorations atop the Agreste Mansion.

Adrien had arrived twenty minutes ago, but she wasn't ready; the plan had seemed so simple a couple days ago, and it still was, but now she felt nervous and afraid… Acting like Ladybug with Adrien was one thing, but actually being her … well, now she wasn't sure.

"You can do this."

She whispers to herself.

"Imagine he's Chat… just Chat."

That wasn't that hard, since he actually might be…

Okay.

She could do this.

Down dropped her yo-yo; now she tapped on the window; from her hanging position, she could see everything upside-down. Floor and shelves, and clothes on the floor, and then there were legs and feet moving towards her- The window opens.

Spinning herself right side up, she smiles; big.

"Hi!"

"Ladybug?"

Up close she can see how big his eyes are, and wow! They are so pretty!

"How's it going?"

Please don't make this any more awkward than it has to be!

"Uh, good. I mean, really good! Especially, uh, you!"

What? Adrien stuttering? Chat stuttering? His mouth snapped shut, and he stared at his feet. Oh, this just got better: Chat speechless! He hadn't even cracked a pun!

"That's great! Can I come in?"

It might not have been possible, but his eyes widened even more.

"Yah! Yeah, come in… you wouldn't want someone to catch you, or anything, haha…uh, not like they could, but…um."

His cheeks were red.

"Thanks! By the way, your room is huge! Seriously, a skater ramp? And a basketball court? But whatever, I can to talk to you."

It was weird; Chat would have said something by now.

Her eyes scan the room again.

"Oh no!"

"What? What's wrong?"

Adrien looks around wildly looking for whatever could have disturbed his lady(well, if he was chat, that's what he'd be thinking) but she pretended to ignore them as she stared, enamored, at the video game displayed on his screen.

"You play this too?"

"Uh… yeah?"

"Can I play? It's been forever since I played that!"

"Well, sure, um…"

Awkwardly, he indicated the controllers, which Ladybug, giddy with finding out Adrien played, picked up both at the same time.

"Wow, these are nice, where did you find them?"

"Oh, the controllers? Well, there's this place—"

And that broke the ice. The two of them ended up chatting about all things gamer, and then they just had to play this game or that, and Ladybug soon found herself completely forgetting her mission.(What could she say, video games and Adrien did that to her)

"…I mean, how long have you been playing? I have like, the highest score ever on that, and you just… trounced me!"

"Ask me no questions and I'll tell you no lies!"

Ladybug smirked, and then leaned closer.

"Maybe she was born with it, maybe it's—"

"Okay, that's taking it too far! Seriously, no one should be that good."

"Yeah, my dad taught me everything I know. And by taught I mean totally trashed me until I started to beat him."

"No mercy?"

"None."

"What a childhood."

"I will forever be scarred."

They both burst out laughing. Adrien looked so happy—like he did when they were at rehearsal and Alya yelled at Marinette for the hundredth time that she wasn't doing it right, or when they went out to eat afterwards and Marinette laughed at his puns… His puns!

If that wasn't proof right there that he was Chat, she didn't know what was.

"So…"

Adrien began

"Why, um, why are you here?"

Of course he wanted to know, since it was normally the cat that did all the evening visiting.

"I heard you had a long day and wanted to cheer you up."

She said honestly (not so honestly, because she really was playing detective on his alter-ego and her love-life)

"Oh… That's nice. Do you normally… you know, visit civilians?"

"Only the cute ones."

Oops, she broke Adrien… again.(She had to stop doing that)

"Well, actually I'm here cause this girl, she goes to your school, she told me you had a full weekend of modeling and wondered if I couldn't visit you sometime cause your dad is kind of strict and she couldn't. So here I am!"

He blinked at her, surprised.

"Who… who was that?"

"The girl? Ohh, I probably shouldn't tell you… It was supposed to be a secret and all."

He was staring at her again, his eyebrows creased, thinking.

"I think… I think I know who. It was Marinette, wasn't it?"

Was she that obvious? Probably.

"Yah…"

"Would you tell her thank you? Wait… I'll tell her myself."

He stood up and held out his hand to her.

"Thanks for coming; I… it was great to have you. It's always great to see you. Well, around Paris, that is."

"Is this goodbye?"

She said, as she found them next to the window.

"Uh… yeah. See you around, I guess."

He shuffled awkwardly, like he wanted to say something, to do something, but he wasn't sure…

"Yeah, I'll see you around."

She said brightly hoping on the windowsill.

"Au revoi—"

"Wait!"

His hand grasped her wrist and pulled her back.

"Just once."

He whispered and kissed her both cheeks

"Next time you see Marinette, tell her I'm all hers now."

He's smiling up at her, but she's confused, and then it dawns on her: Adrien is so Chat, and both Chat and Adrien just chose Marinette over Ladybug….and Adrien did love Ladybug, but didn't think she cared for him.

In other words, both her crush and her crush liked her and her… since they were the same person.

Well. That kind of made this easier.

"When I see her."

She answered, and this time he allowed to her to leave.

It didn't take long for her to start laughing; she hadn't even reach her balcony before the she burst into giggles, shaking from head to toe before collapsed on her bed in a fit of hysteria.

"Adrien is Chat!"

Her transformation faded and a very cross looking Tikki appeared.

"And he has no idea you're Ladybug."

"Adrien is Chat, and Chat is Adrien, and neither of them quipped a pun all night! Did you see him standing there speechless when he saw me? Ahahaha!"

"Yes, and you didn't tell him who you were."

"Adrien said to tell me he loved me! And he told me he had a crush on me and me… Oh, this is so funny!"

"He doesn't know."

"I'm gonna tell Alya!"

"Marinette, you really ought to be telling Adrien."

But Marinette paid Tikki no mind as she fingered through her contacts for Alya.

"He kissed me! Oh, that stupid cat, he stole that goodnight thing from me! I'm gonna lecture him but good about civilian creativity..."

"But he kissed you on both cheeks; he modified it."

Tikki had figured out that her chosen was too giddy to actually listen to her, so she contented herself with the knowledge that at least Marinette hadn't started over thinking anything yet. That was what normally happened with Ladybug, and it made everything drag on for weeks.

"Still… Alya!"

The other girls face appeared on the screen.

"Marinette, do you even know how late it is right now?"

"Alya, I have the most wonderful news!"

"Is it that you're going to hang up within the next thirty seconds so I can go to bed?"

"Nope! Even better than that!"

"This better be good."

Alya muttered to herself

"Adrien proposed and you're getting married tomorrow."

"What?! Oh, uh, no, but you're really close!"

"What, really?"

Alya's expression perked up.

"Adrien likes me!"

"Girl, I already told you that."

"No, but he told me!"

"In PERSON? Is he THERE?"

"No…"

"Then how…"

"He asked Ladybug to tell me."

"HE WHAT! I am so gonna get Nino for going the easy route. He went and got LADYBUG to tell you he liked you! I can't even—That's so romantic. Adrien you are smooth—"

"I wouldn't exactly be calling him smooth."

Marinette commented, thinking about every time in the last twenty-four hours Adrien had stuttered whenever he so much as glanced at her. Alya didn't hear her anyways, she was too busy fangirling.

"All this time! All that effort! Uhhh! Wait! Just a minute Marinette, I have to call you back; inspiration has struck! I must call Nino!"

Marinette was biting her lip to keep from laughing as her friend hung up. She had the best friends ever.

Beside her, Tikki watched her patiently.

"Funny."

"What?"

"Well, a few weeks ago you were moaning about how you and Adrien would never work out, and now look at you: absolutely hopeless."

Marinette giggled.

"I'm a lost cause, aren't I?"

Tikki shook her head solemnly.

"I hate to say it, but I'm afraid so."

Then the two of them fell on her bed, fits of hysteria shaking both of them.

Sometimes… it's okay to be a lost cause.

Honestly, the people who matter wouldn't have you any other way.

xOx

(Another long and boring) Author's Note (which you probably don't want to read): This is the last chapter. La Finale. Estamos terminados. Yay!

Only not really, because the play must go on!

I feel like I owe you an explanation(even if I don't).

It's been at least a month since I've posted anything, and you might have wondered where I've been. (Here and there, nowhere really)

I didn't post anything because I had nothing to post; I didn't like what I wrote, so I didn't write. Thank Goodness, I feel better!

Now, when I started this story, there were three things I didn't want to do with it:

Make it a reveal fic(woops!)

Update it sporadically (ummm)

Make it longer than four chapters (hahahahaha)

Last night as I was finishing up the last chapter, I realized that not only was this story nowhere near done, I didn't want it to be done either. All the changes I made, despite my goals, are what made this story this story, and I love it.

So while this is the last chapter of this part of the story, there is a sequel coming:

How to court your princess: A comedy (part 2)

(I don't know why I keep calling them comedies; I think what I'm trying to let ya'll know not to take anything too seriously)

Adios and see you later!


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